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A picture is worth a thousand words

Following on from our July marketing seminar, here is another top tip to more effective SME marketing. This month we highlight the growing trend in Quick Response (QR) codes.
Whilst the QR code debate rages on and we assess whether this is a passing fad or a marketing phenomenon, the last year has certainly proven that QR campaigns can work effectively for the larger brands. From Coca Cola to Tesco, more and more companies are adapting their marketing campaigns to take advantage of the latest technology and consumer engagement channels available.

So is it worthwhile for SMEs to jump on board the latest marketing bandwagon?

SMEs may feel that technology such as QR codes is best left to bigger firms, with more resources and a deeper understanding of how it works. However, with QR codes, this is simply not the case; they can benefit the marketing of organisations of all sizes.

A QR code is a marketing tool that can help drive consumers to specific content of your choosing, such as a landing pages on your website, contact details or competition entry forms.  QR codes are cheap and easy to generate online. All your prospect needs to access them is a smart phone. Studies from 2011 indicate that businesses were reluctant to introduce QR codes, with only 8% of businesses thinking that QR codes were worthwhile; however, in 2012 the numbers changed significantly, with 47% of businesses declaring that their brand would benefit from introducing QR codes into their marketing, due to the rise in smart phone adoption amongst consumers.

How can my business use QR codes?

QR codes are currently dominating the consumer market, from packaging, magazine adverts, bus stops and billboards, the list is endless.

Tesco in South Korea is a great example of a forward thinking QR campaigns. In order to help save time, Tesco found a clever way to bring the grocery store to the consumer. Tesco launched a QR code campaign that plastered enormous images of food items on to South Korean subway walls. These images came with a QR code and allowed consumers to scan individual food items to be loaded in their virtual shopping cart. Once they finished their checkout, their order was processed and delivered to the consumer’s doorstep.

If you were at the Olympics this year, you may have noticed that QR codes were sitting right at the centre of mobile engagement during the 2012 games, linking supporters to Olympic action, promotions, merchandise and information.

Before and throughout the Olympics, Southwest trains used QR codes to help their customers plan their journey in a timely fashion, so the passenger could avoid any confusion during the games.

QR codes are not just for the big players. QR campaigns can be used in various ways within an SME environment, from business cards and adverts to direct mail and merchandise.  QR codes are a cheap, effective addition to many marketing campaigns and can be used to increase the effectiveness and measurability of campaigns. Common ideas include:

“Scan this product to download a recipe straight to your phone”

“Scan to ‘Like’ us on Facebook and get 20% off this purchase!”

“Scan to enter our latest competition”

Like any marketing activity, it is essential to have a campaign strategy in place, offering something special or unique. You need to understand your target audience, have a clear objective in mind and most importantly, provide valuable information to encourage the user to interact with your brand.

Businesses should always measure the results from any marketing campaign, QR codes included.  Did your website receive more traffic? Did the campaign generate more sales, Twitter followers or ‘Likes’ on Facebook? Whilst trying out the latest marketing trend can be fun, ultimately the campaign needs to generate results for your business.

To create your free QR code today, click here.

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Marketing Titbits – Graph Search from Facebook, Twitter’s new video sharing app, the latest social media site

1. If your business doesn’t have a Facebook presence yet, there’s another reason you might want to get started. Facebook has recently launched its much-hyped new functional calledGraph Search. More than a new “search tool”, Graph Search lets you find people and businesses by interests, location or industry.  For example, Graph Search allows you to search “best restaurants in Winchester”, Facebook will then show you recommendations based on what your friends feel is the best place to eat, based on their likes and reviews. Just make sure that your location details on your business Facebook page are up to date.
2. Although Thumb has been around since 2010, it has only recently started to become popular around the world. Thumb is a picture based social media site that helps to engage consumers and get their gut reactions to your business ideas, images, and messages. Want feedback for your new website design, or need help choosing a business card design? Upload a picture and let your fellow Thumbers instantly share their opinions.

 

3. Twitter has recently unleashed their very own video sharing app called Vine. Vine allows users to upload very short 6 second videos to their Twitter account and has already become Twitter’s most downloaded app.  So why only 6 seconds? Similar to your short snappy tweets, posts on Vine are about abbreviation, providing little snippets of people’s lives, businesses and ideas.  At present, the only platform that the Vine app is available on is the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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Marketing Titbits – Tumblr, Facebook’s conversion measurement tool & Robert Cialdini’s book ‘Influence’

1.Influence
Robert Cialdini’s book ‘Influence’, is a must read for anyone involved in marketing a business. The book explores the 6 central pillars of Influence: reciprocity, consistency and commitment, liking, social proof, authority and scarcity and outlines, through real world examples and scientific studies, how and why they work. We’ve just read it and can thoroughly recommend it. For more information click here.

2.Tumblr

Tumblr has been around for a while now; however, it’s popularity has been on the increase of late. This free online tool straddles the boundary between blogging platform and social networking website. It allows you or your business to post text, images, video and other media to your own short-form blog, which fellow users can follow. You can use it to share anything that you or your business find interesting and want to share directly with your followers. The opportunities are endless and it is another great tool for helping build your online brand.

3.Facebook conversion measurement

Facebook’s update spree continues. Last month, Facebook launched their new conversion measurement and optimisation system that allows you to measure the ROI of your Facebook ads. It enables users to identify key online conversions, such as registrations or shopping cart checkouts, which have derived from their Facebook ads. Another feature allows you to optimise your ads based on consumer popularity.  Overall, the new features are designed to help you increase the ROI of your Facebook ads, which has got to be a good thing!

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Marketing Titbits – Pinterest analytics, hashtags for Facebook and Dropbox

Pinterest Analytics:
If you have a very visual website, with lots of imagery that visitors might like to share with their friends, family, colleagues or business network, have you started exploring how the latest social media phenomenon, Pinterest, could be utilised to increase web traffic and awareness amongst your target audience? If not, you can find out a bit more here about how it works.

The nature of Pinterest is such that you might already be benefiting from your visitors sharing your website imagery, without you even realising it. Such is the rapid growth of Pinterest, over 12 million unique users per month, that it is quickly gaining entry to the top table of the social media kingdom, alongside the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn. To highlight its growing influence, Pinterest has recently launched its own analytics software, which will show website owners just Pinterest users are interacting with their website. It will include information like:

  • How many people have pinned from your site
  • How many people have seen these pins
  • How many people visited your site from Pinterest
  • Most repinned, most clicked, and most recent pins

For more information on Pinterest Analytics click here.

#Hashtags coming to Facebook?:

Once synonymous with Twitter, there are now rumours that Facebook might be building in hashtagging capabilities into its social network architecture. The new facility would enable Facebookers to tune in and participate in the public discussion of topics across the social networking site, in much the same way users of Twitter can do currently.

The facility is already incorporated into Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, so it is likely we will see this development in the not too distant future.

If your wondering what all this hashtagging is about, here’s a brief overview from theGuardian’s Technology Blog.

Dropbox:

There are very few ‘must haves’ in our opinion, but Dropbox is something we can’t live without and we think if you try it, you’ll agree.

Dropbox is a free service that, put simply, lets you access all your documents, images, videos and files anywhere. When you save any file in your Dropbox, it will automatically sync to all your computers, phones, tablets and the Dropbox website. It is a great way to back up important files.

However, we find the real value is in the ability it gives us to share files (particularly large ones) with our clients and team. Need a client to go through a brochure file too big to email? No problem, share it with them securely through Dropbox. Need to share a large document with a co-worker working from home and you’ve not got a server? Again, no problem, use Dropbox.

Its integration across all our technology, including PCs, laptops, mobiles and tablets has made our lives so much easier. We hope you benefit in the same way. Learn more here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Facebook campaigns by Ikea, ‘Brick by Brick’ and tips on being social media savvy from Richard Branson.

1. Six awesome examples of Facebook campaigns by Ikea
Ikea is the world’s largest furniture retailer, amassing sales last year of £186 billion, selling ready to assemble furniture in 38 countries around the world. Unsurprisingly, Ikea has managed to attain a pretty impressive social media fan base over the years with millions of Facebook fans and hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers, particularly impressive for a furniture retailer!

We found this great article, which showcases six inspirational examples of Facebook campaigns from Ikea. To have a look click here.

 

2. What can your company learn from Lego?

Founded in 1932, Lego is one of the oldest plastic toys in the world. Today, Lego is an iconic brand and one of the most successful and popular toys of all time, with 80 Lego bricks for every one man, woman and child on the plant today!

David Robertson’s new book, Brick by Brick, tells the story of the family owned company from Denmark, about how they grew steadily for years until the 1990s, when they struggled to compete with new technologies. The book follows Lego through the harder times, when in 2003 they nearly went bankrupt, with the company seeing its biggest loss in history. However, Lego managed to save itself and companies of all sizes can learn a lot from David Robertson’s account of the journey.

http://www.robertsoninnovation.com/brick-by-brick/

3. Richard Branson on being social media savvy

Sir Richard Branson is perhaps the most familiar current British entrepreneur on the world stage. He is the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group and began his very first business venture at the ripe old age of 16. However, to achieve his success he has had to keep up with the times, something that he has done incredibly successfully.

Despite being 63 years old, there are many things that we can learn about being social media savvy from Richard Branson and he regularly shares his advice and business experience with anyone and everyone who is willing to take it.

We have found this article that highlights Richard Branson’s main points around how to harness social media and we think it is really worth a read. If you would like to read more thenclick here.

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